


Nothing But

by iLurked



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: F/M, Spoilers for 1x17, post 1x17
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-14
Updated: 2014-04-14
Packaged: 2018-01-19 11:30:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,718
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1467856
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iLurked/pseuds/iLurked
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Grant Ward tries to make amends, but how can they trust him now?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Nothing But

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers for 1x17 - Turn, Turn, Turn

“The things you said,” she forced herself to choke out. “They were all lies?” the hope on her face was heart-wrenching.

He was sorry for a lot of things, he would take back a lot of things if he could, but he could not.

Among the things he was sorry for was for breaking her heart.

She was but another victim in this war she had no business being in. She was untrained, a civilian, unknowing of the consequences of the situation she put herself in.

He lied about a lot of things, but he owed her the truth now.

“It was a job.” Ward’s reply was a staccato.

With a choked sob, Skye pushed herself away from the table Ward was chained to and stalked to the door.

Quickly shooting up, Agent Triplett beat the hacker to door to open it for her.

Even if he had been inclined to follow Skye, he could not, chained as he was to the table. Ward could only watch in sorrow as Skye fought off the onslaught of tears.

“Don’t look at her.” the seething command came from in front of him. “You don’t get to look at her.”

Slowly, Ward slowly turned his head to meet the furious face of Fitz.

That was another bridge Ward burned. He was just beginning to establish a relationship with the rocket scientist, and now with his betrayal, with his breaking Skye’s heart, Ward knew there would be no forgiveness, no easy fix-its that would bring them back to their original rapport.

Ward wondered how many ways, how many times he could say sorry.

There was a knock on the door, and again, Trip moved to open it.

Sunshine entered the room and everyone felt it.

Fitz took a deep breath and tried to control the anger that was overwhelming him.

Even Trip was not immune. Ward saw the younger man subtly straighten his tie before welcoming the newcomer with a huge smile.

Ward basked in her presence. She was all that was good, and pure and warm—everything that Ward was not.

And just his luck, the sunshine refused to even look at his direction.

His betrayal changed everything and not even his attempts to make everything better could mend it.

“You got it?” Fitz asked the biochemist. “You finished the serum?”

“Yes,” Simmons replied as she hefted a heretofore unnoticed cooler on the table. “This so fresh you could hear it moo.”

Three pairs of confused eyes turned to her.

“You know,” Simmons tried to explain. “Fresh. You could hear it moo. Like a cow? Never mind.”

“Here’s an idea.” Fitz told her. “Why don’t you leave the talking to us?”

“You’re no fun,” Simmons muttered under her breath as she took a seat on the table. She looked at Ward for the first time and her smile visibly dimmed. “Hey, Agent Ward.”

“Don’t call him agent.” Fitz snapped at her.

“Let’s break it up, children,” Trip nipped the argument in the bud.

It looked like Trip did not only usurp Ward’s former position as specialist in the bus, he also replaced Ward as the voice of reason.

“What have you got there?” Trip continued.

Just like that, the sun was shining again.

“This,” Simmons proudly opened the cooler and took out a vial and a syringe. “Will determine if A—uh, Ward is telling us the truth about his change of heart.”

“Cool,” Trip nodded, impressed. “But I thought S.H.I.E.L.D. doesn’t have a truth serum.”

Fitz and Simmons exchanged a look.

“Well, it’s technically not S.H.I.E.L.D.’s,” Fitz stated.

“And not technically a truth serum.” Simmons added. “It’s more of a lie detector.”

“Our contract with S.H.I.E.L.D. states that whatever we develop in our own time is ours,” Fitz continued. “So this is ours.”

“And it works like a polygraph.” Simmons picked up where her partner left off. “The serum contains a nanobot that can measure autonomic arousal: heart rate, blood pressure, breathing rate, and perspiration, from the inside.”

“It’ll beep to tell us if he’s lying?” Trip tried to clarify.

“Oh, we’ll know he's lying” Fitz replied, almost too manically, making Ward swallow in fear. “Because it would hurt.”

“If it measures a high enough autonomic arousal,” Simmons stated gravely. “The nanobot would release the serum that would stimulate the pain sensors in the brain.”

Trip frowned as he chewed on the information he had been given.

“How did you even test something like that?” Ward frowned.

“You don’t get to—”

Fitz’s growl was interrupted by Simmons’ hand on his chest.

“If we are injecting this serum in him,” she stated. “He has a right to know how it works so he can make an informed decision.”

“He lost his right to say no when—”

Again, Fitz was stopped by Simmons, this time with a mere look. 

“It has to be his choice.” she told them softly.

And there was the sunshine’s steel backbone. She might not be as talented in hand-to-hand combat as the Calvary or as assertive as Skye, but her quiet strength was just as intense and as effective.

They were asking Ward if he wanted the injection, and that was that.

“Is this stuff tested or is Ward volunteering as your test subject?” Trip asked, breaking the tension between the two scientists.

“Of course it had been tested.” Simmons looked almost offended. “I tried it on myself.”

Ward could only gape at the biochemist in horror. 

"Woman," Trip stated after a shocked beat.“You are hardcore.”

“Fitz wouldn’t speak to me for a weak.” she admitted.

“You were in such incredible pain, it almost triggered a heart attack!” Fitz snapped, his face turning red. “If I didn’t walk in just at that minute, you would have—”

“That is neither here nor there,” Simmons waved off the concern of her oldest friend. “Can we return to what we were doing?”

On cue, three sets of eyes turned to Ward.

“Are you willing to go through this interrogation, the FitzSimmons way?” Trip asked Ward.

Ward nodded once, as if he had a choice if he wanted to work with the team again.

“Do the honors, Agent Trip?” Fitz asked.

At Trip’s nod, Simmons handed a cotton ball and the syringe she had already filled with the chemical to the agent.

After administering the serum, Trip sat beside Simmons.

“How long do we wait until the serum works?” Trip asked.

“I think we’re good.” Simmons answered. “The chemical’s injected directly to his bloodstream.”

“You do understand that if you lie, you’d be in unbearable pain, don’t you, Ward?” Simmons asked.

“I can handle the pain.” he replied shortly.

Fitz slammed his fist on the table, making everyone jump. “It’s not your pain we were worried about.”

“What you should be taking from here,” Trip added. “Is that if you lie, we’d know about it and that would be the end of this exercise.”

“I understand.” Ward stated.

They began the interrogation which was, surprisingly, led by Fitz and not by Trip. But it was Simmons who asked the hardest questions.

“Why?” she asked softly. “Why did you do it?”

Ward inhaled, feeling a bead of sweat trail down his spine. As he said, he was not worried about the pain. It was the fact that if he triggered the chemical, he would be deemed a liar and he would be denied even the opportunity to correct his mistakes.

Thus, even if he wanted to keep the details of his betrayal close to vest, he replied, “They had my brother.”

“Had?” Trip asked.

“He’s dead now.” he replied tonelessly.

Simmons closed her eyes, a hand covering her mouth.

“So what now?” Fitz asked. “You want vengeance?”

“No.” Ward replied. He was surprised that he did not trigger the chemical, that it was actually true that he did not want vengeance for the death of his older brother.

Then again, maybe his lack of desire to avenge his brother should not be a surprise. His brother abused him and his youngest brother when they were younger and even after reaching his adulthood continued to make their lives hell. By entangling himself with Hydra, ruined Ward’s life and career years later. After outliving his usefulness in Hydra, his elder brother found another calling in life: as a tool to control Ward.

“What do you want?” Simmons asked, interrupting Ward’s introspection.

“A chance,” Ward replied immediately. “To fix this.”

Fitz fell silent after that and Trip took over the questioning.

It went for another hour before the agent pronounced himself as satisfied.

“Any more questions?” Trip asked the two scientists.

Fitz shook his head then stomped angrily out of the Hive, slamming the door behind him, as if another moment in Ward’s presence would contaminate him with darkness.

“I better go after him,” Simmons muttered.

“Jemma,” Trip called after her. “Are you forgetting something?”

Ward could almost kiss the man in gratitude, even as he bristled at Trip’s familiarity with the biochemist.

At Simmons’ confused frown, Trip clarified, “The antidote to the truth serum?”

“Lie detector serum,” she corrected him. “And there’s no such thing.”

Trip’s and Ward’s jaws dropped.

“What did you just inject him with?” Trip asked.

“Placebo.” Simmons replied. “Saline, to be precise.”

“Well played, Simmons,” Ward told her, impressed. Her ability to lie was indeed improving by leaps and bounds.

“Thank you.” she replied. She was walking away when she hesitated, and turned back to him.

He waited and was not disappointed. Simmons was never one to mince words.

“I now understand why you did what you did, Ward,” Simmons said quietly. “But there is no changing the fact that you killed a lot of good people, people with family. The slate can never be cleaned no matter what happens after today.”

Ward’s eyes became downcast. His fists tightened. “I know.” the words were sandpaper against his throat.

Before Trip could stop her, Jemma moved closer to Ward and gave his shoulder a squeeze. “But this is a good step forward, Agent Ward.”

And just like that, the sun was shining for Ward again. Better, hope bloomed on his breast. 

“Thank you,” he whispered as Trip escorted Simmons safely out of the Hive.


End file.
